Tidings of Comfort and Pine
by feistypaants
Summary: Kristoff is a worker on Oaken's Tree Farm, and Anna comes in to work the concession stand and Gift Shop. This is a collection of small snapshots of their time together. Word counts will vary greatly depending on the scene.
1. New Girl

Kristoff had already finished setting up the trees in the barn by the time the shop opened and was just heading over to the shop to warm up before his shift started, when he ran into an unexpected body. Scrambling to find purchase, he wound up with one hand clutching the edge of the counter, and another wrapped around the strangers waist, her weight pressing down on him.

"O-oh gosh, I'm sorry. I'm -"

He stood up, straightening his back to his full height, and brushed off the front of his shirt. By the time he looked back down at the girl, she was blushing furiously and gnawing on her lip. He grunted some form of acknowledgement and stepped around her.

"You must be Christopher!"

His ears perked up, but he continued his trek over towards the space heater. "Kristoff."

"Oh. Sorry! Mister Oaken told me about you! I guess I got the name wrong…" She paused and he hoped she was done talking. "But I was close! Kristoff. _Kristoff… _hack off the _off_ and it's Kris! Well… Krist. But Kris sounds better. Krissy?"

Rolling his eyes, he noted that her voice was chipper and warm and _kind_, and felt his cheeks flushing that it was saying his name so many times in a row.

"I prefer Kristoff."

"Okay. Kristoff!"

He heard the heels of her boots clacking against the ground as she paced back and forth.

"Well… I'm Anna, if you were interested."

Shrugging, he rubbed his hands together. "Not particularly."

Anna moved around again, humming to herself and clicking her tongue, touching everything in the store. It aggravated him to no end, and he turned on his heel to scold her, but froze when he finally got an actual look at her. She was small and pale, with long red hair that was plaited rather messily, and had a large smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Kristoff bit down his blush.

"What are you doing in here anyway?"

She smiled at him and he felt a weakness in his knees.

"I'm working in the gift shop!"


	2. A Hesitant Interaction

"So…"

Kristoff stiffened when he approached her with the receipt for the most recent tree he had loaded up. Ultimately, the cashier in the gift shop had to be the one to ring out the customers, so he _had _spent a lot of time over the last couple of days seeing her, but he had been doing so well at not _actually _talking to her. Why did she want to break that record?

"So?"

Hands twisting together behind her back, Anna bounced on her heels. "We should probably get to know one another, you know?"

He tapped a finger against his chin, humming… and then frowned, shaking his head. "Nah."

"Excuse me?" Confusion washed over her face, and she crossed her arms across her chest. "Why not?"

Shrugging, Kristoff placed the receipt onto her desk and lifted his eyebrows in contempt. "You'll be gone at the end of the season." He crossed his arms. "No point in getting to know you."

Anna couldn't help but laugh and prop her hands on her hips. "Wow," she started, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "You're really rude!"

"Not rude." He moved to leave her to the customers, who had just rang the entrance bell of the store. "Just practical." He could feel her eyes burning into the back of his head as he took off his gloves and warmed his hands over the heater. Ignore her… Ignore her.

She sniffled, and he stiffened. Was she going to cry? He really couldn't deal with girls crying...

Kristoff listened with careful ears as she rung out the customers, an obvious shake in her otherwise cheerful voice. He heard her sniffling again when they left, and dropped his head in defeat. Pivoting on his feet, he shuffled back over to the desk and handed her a hankie that he kept in his pocket.

"I'm sorry…"

The sniffles stopped as he felt the fabric slip from between his fingers, and it was silent for just a moment until he heard a soft laugh. He looked up at her, and found a big smile.

"I knew you weren't _really_ that bad!"

"...What?"

"You're a big softy, aren't you?" Her cheeks were glowing pink as her eyes sparkled and he scoffed at her. "Well… underneath that gruff and grumpy _no-one-talk-to-me_ exterior."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he grumbled, glancing away from her and crossing his arms again, hoping his blush was hidden beneath the scarf that covered his nose and mouth.

Her little hands grabbed at his arm and she laughed again, tugging on him and grinning. "Oh please! I made sniffling noises and you couldn't walk out without trying to help." Her grip on him tightened, but her smile softened into one more affectionate than teasing. "We're gonna be friends. I can _feel _it."

That smile was infectious, and he could feel one tugging at his own lips.

Ripping his arm from her grasp, Kristoff shoved open the back door and grunted, forcing his smile back down.

"Whatever."

Anna cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered after him through the slightly cracked window. "Search your feelings, Kristoff, you know it to be true!"

He couldn't help but chuckle at her reference, and adjusted his hat on his head as he made his way back out to the lot. Maybe she was right.


	3. Compromise

Anna had thought this would be a good idea. Honestly, why wouldn't having the giant vat of hot chocolate sitting _on _the service window's counter be a good idea? That way she wouldn't have to run back and forth all day. Smart!

Not to mention how many more people were coming over for the drink, and how many more tips she was getting because of it. There didn't seem to be a downside.

Until her genius of a coworker leaned a tree up against the wall _right next to it_, making it shed pine needles into the opening when she was spooning out some cocoa for a customer. "Hey! Watch it, Bjorgman!"

His chocolate brown eyes glanced up from the tree, and Anna felt her heart flutter. What? No. She hardened her gaze.

"You… you ruined that whole batch!"

"What?"

Glaring, Anna held up a hand to him and excused the customers, apologizing for the inconvenience and gave them complimentary apple cider.

Kristoff waited impatiently, tapping his toes and watched the customers leave before tugging his scarf back down around his neck. "So what are you going on about?"

She threw her hands up and let out a groan of frustration. "You can't just throw a tree next to the service window! I keep the hot chocolate here!" Her fingers latched onto the edges of her hat, pulling it down further over her eyes. "You ruined the _whole batch_," she whined.

"Just… make more?" Kristoff offered, shrugging and moving to grab the ladle in the vat. A lot more had gotten in there than he realized, or would've thought possible… But this wasn't his fault! He'd been working here for _years_, and _never_ had any sales girl been _stupid_ enough to put the drinks where he put the trees. "You're not supposed to move the cocoa anyway."

Hands pressed over her eyes, Anna sighed. "I was just trying to make things more efficient." She crossed her arms and grumbled. "Why run across the store when I can just have it _right there_?"

Kristoff shrugged, slightly agreeing, but it didn't really matter. "Well, this is where I put the trees before I load them onto the cars so-"

"So find somewhere else!"

"No!"

Blue eyes met brown, in a fairly intense stare, neither intending to back down.

Maybe at first Anna had felt like they'd be friends, but _damn_ did he get on her nerves. She wasn't so sure anymore, considering all they did was bicker. Oaken had laughed, making some side comment about opposites attracting and how that was how some of the best relationships started, and both of them had scoffed and spat at those words. There was _no way_ anything beyond a civil work relationship would bloom here.

She doubted that Kristoff felt much differently.

But regardless, they had to continue to work together until January. It was November.

Sighing, Anna rolled her shoulders and dropped her head. "Fine. Compromise?"

He looked interested, crossing his arms and shrugging, urging her to continue.

"Three feet. Just keep three feet between your trees and my counter, okay?"

A cocked eyebrow and a smile, and Kristoff picked his tree up and moved it a few feet away. "There," he stated with a small, mocking bow. "Happy, princess?"

Anna smiled and curtsied. "Delighted."


	4. Cocoa

At the end of the night, Anna was just happy to be off of her feet for a minute. This Saturday night had definitely been the busiest so far, and Oaken had laughed and assured her that weekends were only going to get worse from here on out. Anna just could not understand why people would buy their trees in early November?

People were crazy!

Peering out the window, Anna noticed the broad figure of Kristoff sit backwards onto a bench in the middle of the lot. If she was busy, she couldn't imagine how busy _he_ must have been. He was the only one out working the field and tying up trees - since this was a local farm, it wasn't usually this busy and he was definitely able to handle it, but he was definitely more run down than usual.

She could see it in his slumped shoulders, the way his hand dragged down his face, how his fingers shook when they brushed his hair out of his face.

Anna bit her lip and stood, moving to pull her jacket over her shoulders and wrap her scarf around her neck. Pouring a few ladles of hot cocoa into a travel cup, she went out the door and walked rather clumsily over to the bench that the blond was sitting on.

"Hey," she forced out through cold lungs, putting one arm out to balance herself over freshly forming ice. "I…"

When his eyes turned up to her, she froze. A cough and an aversion of her eyes, and Anna did her best to speak up again.

"Y-you looked… tired and cold." Holding the cup out towards him, she gestured for him to take it. "I thought you might… l-like a warm drink, you know?"

Kristoff pulled his scarf down from his mouth and with a quick glance up and down her form, he took the cup and patted the seat next to him, offering her a soft smile. "Thanks, Anna."

She couldn't help the blush that rose to her cheeks (but she hoped he'd assume it was just because of the cold). "You're welcome…"

They sat in a content silence, him sipping and making small sighs of joy between each gulp. He gave her small smiles, which she was happy to return.

When she shivered, he walked her back inside, and stayed with her, leaning against the counter as she finished cleaning and counting out the register.

At the very end of the night, he walked her to her car and saw her off.

She decided to bring him cocoa every night for the rest of her time there.


	5. Frostbite

The door slammed open, and a completely snow covered form of Kristoff came sulking through the doorway. Anna kept her eyes on him as he moved over towards the fireplace, sitting down in front of it, and started to drip all over the floor.

"You're making a mess!" she called from the counter, laughing when he turned to face her, with frosted eyelashes and frozen hair, and mumbled a tiny, barely audible "shut up."

She moved over towards him, stopping in front of him and pressing her hands against his head to slide his hat backwards and off of his head. When his glare grew sharper, Anna scoffed at him. "Just let me help, idiot."

Kristoff grumbled incoherently to himself as she worked warm fingers over the knotted scarf around his neck, tugged down the thick wool gaiter that was covering his mouth, and frowned when she saw his shivering, slightly blue lips.

"What happened?"

When Anna got his thick mittens and glove liners off, he immediately started huffing his breath into his hands in a pathetic attempt to warm them. His eyes followed Anna as she moved over to the electric towel warmer they kept in the store, and did his best to talk. "I… I f-fell into a s-snow bank o-out on th-the farm… T-took me twen…." A massive shiver that ran up his spine caused his words to cut off. "... Twenty minutes t-to get-t out…"

"Hang on…" She came back over and placed the hot towel into his hands. "Stand up… Your clothes are all soaked through aren't they?"

He nodded, and stood up, still towering over her even when hunched over and cold. He tried desperately to undo the clasps on his jacket, but his fingers were numb and clumsy, and unable to do much of anything. Meeting Anna's gaze with whimpering eyes, he sighed with relief when she moved to unhook his jacket.

He felt another shiver when her excessively warm hands pressed against the thick wool sweater under his coat.

"Jeez… Obviously you need a more waterproof jacket," she teased, pushing it up and off of his shoulders. "Do you have an extra sweater in the back room?"

Nodding again, Kristoff sat back down in front of the fireplace, hoping Anna thought the pink in his cheeks was due to the frost or the flames, and watched her run to the back, quickly reentering the doorway with his large black sweater in her hands.

"Here we go…"

Kristoff stood again when she was in front of him, and started working the sweater off of his torso.

Anna hoped he missed the way her eyes widened and took in all of his buff chest, outlined clearly by his tight undershirt, and threw his dry sweater at him. "Here you go."

By the time he had the dry sweater on, Anna was back behind the counter, as far away from him as she could possibly get in this small store.

He smiled over at her, pressing the warm towel against his mouth. "Thank you," he muttered, blushing when she looked up at him, her own cheeks pink.

"No problem…"


	6. Needles

"I can do it!"

Kristoff watched with a smug grin as Anna used all of her strength to pull the large evergreen across the farm. Apparently she had finished setting up the store early, and wanted to help him lay out some pre-cut trees in the barn.

He had a feeling she would be slowing down his normal rhythm, but she had been so cute when she asked that he couldn't help but say yes. He had a feeling that he'd have trouble ever saying no to her, with her bright blue eyes, pink, freckled cheeks, and the way she ran her tongue over her lips when she was anxious.

Offering once more, Kristoff leaned up against the barn wall. "You sure? I can help if you want." The sight of this little girl trying to haul a tree that was a good foot taller than her would never _not_be funny, but he was starting to feel bad for her.

Anna dropped the tree with a huff, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well if you _insist_."

Moving to grab at the thick trunk of the tree, Kristoff hoisted the tree up off the ground, shaking a heap of pine needles free from the tree, and eliciting a small "hey!" from the redhead.

He leaned the tree up against the wall and turned to face her, a small amount of confusion on his face, until he noticed all of the pine needles in her hair and burst out laughing.

"Stop!" Anna whined, picking at the bits that were stuck in her hat.

Laughing, Kristoff closed the distance between them. "Hang on." Taking off his gloves, Kristoff used thick fingers to tug at all of the little offenders that were tangled in her hat and hair.

She couldn't help the blush that bloomed on her cheeks when his fingers brushed up against her skin. Eyes wide, Anna stepped back away from him. "I think you got them…"

"One more…" Kristoff leaned in close to get the best view he could of the pine needle that was buried deep in her red braids. Close enough that his breath was bouncing off of her skin, back into his face.

As soon as he pulled away with the needle between his fingers, Anna darted off, her skin burning from the gentle touches of his skin.


	7. Fiance

Kristoff wouldn't openly admit that he was feeling kind of bummed that Anna had taken off work today… and he definitely wouldn't admit how happy he felt when he saw her come around the corner of the shop and wave to him.

"Hey!" he called out, jogging over to meet her, fighting the smile that was tugging at his lips.

Anna smiled brightly and tucked her hands into her jacket pockets. "Hi yourself."

"I thought you had off today," he started, cheeks stretching as his eyes scanned over her bright face. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh I'm…"

Both of their faces dropped when another man came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You really like working here, Anna? It's so… dingy."

She coughed and elbowed him in the side, earning a sharp glare and a hiss of irritation. Turning her attention back to Kristoff, she smiled. "I'm getting a tree. With um… This is -"

"Hans Westergard," he cut in, sticking his hand out and waiting for the blond to shake it. "Her fiance."

Kristoff froze for a minute, face faltering, before he reached forward to give Hans a firm handshake. "Fiance, huh?" His eyes flicked to Anna, who had kept her eyes down to the ground between them. "Funny. She hasn't mentioned you."

He was forcing himself not to look too pleased when Hans gave the little redhead a more than offended raise of his eyebrows.

Shrugging, Anna offered an apologetic smile. "It… never came up?"

With a smirk, Kristoff turned to walk back towards the farm, waving them to follow behind them. "So… Do you want to pick your own freshly cut, or pick one from the barn? Fresh cut is a little pricier."

"Fresh cut. I don't want an already dying tree."

The blond rolled his eyes, somewhat irritated at this guys' just _existing_. "You got it."

After grabbing his ax and chainsaw, He led them quickly to the entrance of the pick-your-own lot, and trailed behind them as they walked, arms holding onto one another, around the lot. Hans was picky, that was for sure. He wanted the biggest and the most fragrant and the fullest… It took him almost half an hour of wandering around and checking this and that and the other thing before he finally decided on a tree.

Kristoff nudged them out of the way, and made quick work of cutting the tree down. He did his best to ignore their stupid displays of affection - him kissing her, her sweet little giggles…

"Hey," he started placing down the ax after he cut out a notch in the trunk. "Go up front, I'll bring this up for you."

By the time he got up front, Hans was in the shop paying, and Anna was waiting by the car for Kristoff to bring the tree up to the store and tie it on his roof.

Laying the tree down beside the car, Kristoff started tugging his mittens off so he could efficiently tie knots. "So… Fiance, huh?"

"Yeah…"

An awkward silence fell between them, and Anna couldn't stand it. "I guess I should have said something, huh?"

Shrugging, Kristoff grunted. "Why? I'm just your coworker."

She smiled. "... Yeah…"

There wasn't another word shared between them as he tied on the tree, accepted a tip from Hans, and watched them drive off.

Kristoff kicked the toe of his boot into the snow and tugged his hat off of his head in frustration. That answered any questions he may have had.

She was engaged.

Of course she was.


	8. Wait, What?

_Stop looking, Anna. Stop. Just turn your head away from the window and - oh __**god **__he's cutting it with an ax instead of a chainsaw._

The store was completely deserted today, and Anna couldn't help herself. Cheek propped in her hand as she leaned an elbow against the counter, she watched with glossed over eyes as Kristoff was cutting down a couple of the ready trees near the store, right outside her window.

She had seen what was under all of his layers once, and she couldn't get it out of her _mind_. She _knew_ he had broad shoulders, and a pretty _great_ butt, but the rest of him could have been _anything _underneath that large winter coat.

A blush started coating her cheeks as she sighed and caught her bottom lip in her teeth.

Really, what straight woman _wouldn't _want to run her tongue over his buff chest and arms-

Wait, _what_?!_  
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Shaking her head, Anna's face grew even more red, and she snapped up, standing straight behind the counter with her eyes locked on the register.

_You're engaged, Anna. You should __**not **__be thinking about touching and licking and biting every bit of his chest and stomach and pelvis and -_

With an exasperated groan, she dropped her head down against the counter, and took a few deep breaths.

_Maybe you should go jump in the snow - that's kind of like a cold shower, right?_

She shrieked and fell backwards onto the floor when the door beside her opened with a low, gruff "Hey, Red."


	9. Personal Decorations

"What the hell are you wearing?"

Anna looked up from counting out the registers, and smiled brightly up at her grumpy coworker. "Just getting into the holiday spirit!"

He couldn't help but laugh at his eyes scanned over her - She was fully decked out in Christmas cheer. From her Santa hat, the loose tinsel woven through her braids and the thicker strands of tinsel and beads wrapped around her neck, to the corny reindeer sweater she had on, all the way to her ears… "Did you put ornaments in your ears?"

"I just made earrings out of them!"

Kristoff shook his head and patted her shoulder. "You're ridiculous."

Placing her hands on her hips and giving him the proudest look she could manage, Anna nodded her head. "You are absolutely right, I am!" And then, as if holding in a secret, she bit at her lip. "But I've sold more merchandise today than the rest of the week combined. I guess people are really into the dorky Christmas thing."

With a shrug, he nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Maybe. Not me."

"Not you?"

A mischievous grin started stretching her cheeks, and she felt blindly under the counter. "Well… It's a shame I bought you this state of the art… Santa hat!" Whipping out a whole get up, with a white fluffy beard attached to the hat, Anna started giggling wildly.

Kristoff shook his head and backed away from the counter. "No way, Freckles. Not happening."

"Aw come on!" she pouted, dropping the hat onto the counter. "You'd be Kris Kringle!" And with that, her laughter bubbled up again, her cheeks flushing red as she ran out of breath. "Get it? _Kris _Kringle?"

A roll of his eyes and a sarcastic "Ha _ha_, as if I haven't heard _that _one before," and he started pulling his gloves back on.

"Wait!" Anna almost fell over the counter when she tried desperately to stop him from going outside. "Okay, okay. No santa hat. But…" Reaching under the counter again, her smile lit up when she produced a _different _head decoration. "How about a reindeer? It's just antlers!"

Kristoff dropped his head into his hands before snatching the ridiculously cheesy headband out of her hands and tucking it into his jacket. "I'll think about it."

When Anna looked outside fifteen minutes later, he had them on his head, and she jumped out from behind the counter to bang on the window and smile at him.

He just groaned and ducked his head back down, praying that she couldn't see how red his face was.


	10. Crazy Trust Exercise

"Anna, seriously. Don't."

With her arms crossed over her chest, Anna looked back and forth between Kristoff and the large oak tree that was on the outskirts of the farm. Her eyes scanned over the branches, and she nodded. "Yep. I can totally do it."

"You're gonna kill yourself," Kristoff muttered, dropping his head into his hands. How did they turn a trip to grab some supplies from the storage barn into Anna betting him she could climb to the top of the largest tree on the premises?

Placing her hands on the trunk, Anna stretched as high as she could, groaning when she just missed the bottom of the first branch. "Hey, help me up!"

"I'm only helping you so far as getting on the first branch." Kristoff grabbed firmly on her waist and hoisted her up just so she could wrap her arms around the branch and hold herself up. "There."

Anna started giggling as she swung her legs back and forth until she could get her shoes gripped onto the trunk, and walked up it until she could roll on top of the branch and sit, one leg on either side. "A ha! Told you I could get up here!"

Shaking his head, Kristoff laughed. "No, Red, you told me you could get to the _top_."

She shot him a glare before precariously standing on top of the branch. "Fine. I'm getting to the top then!"

Kristoff tensed and watched with nervous eyes, jerking every time she lost her balance, and sighing with relief when she got to the top.

"Hey! See, I did it!"

"Yes you did, Anna…" He clenched his teeth and kept his eyes locked on her. "Now… Come down… _Carefully_."

With every branch she climbed down, Kristoff could feel the tension in his shoulders relaxing, until she was just two branches off the ground and he heard a crack and a hollered

"Catch!"

Stepping forward hastily, he stretched his arms out just in time to catch her, bending at the knees to lessen the impact of her body landing on his. Unfortunately, the snow shifted below his feet, and he wound up on top of Anna, her hissing in pain and pressing up on his shoulder.

"Ow, ow, owowowow…"

Kristoff scrambled to push up on his hands, giving Anna as much space as he could manage. "Are you okay?"

Pulling her left glove off carefully, Anna looked down at her already swelling and bruising wrist. "Ow…"

He leaned to the side to move and sit beside her, grasping at the elbow of her hurt arm and brought it closer to examine it. With very gentle fingers, Kristoff pushed back on her wrist, smiling when she let out a soft hiss. "Sorry… How much did that hurt?"

"N-not too badly…" Glancing up at him, Anna bit her lip, blushing as how close his cheek was to hers. "Just… Kind of dull pain…"

"Well, good." He scooped up some snow with his free hand and pressed it softly against the swollen joint, eyes turning up to her furrowed brow. "It's probably not broken, then."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until he brushed the snow off of her skin. Removing the scarf off of his neck, he started wrapping her wrist as delicately as he could, but hoping to sturdy it just a little bit. "You okay?"

"... Yeah, I think so." Blushing, Anna smiled up at him, laughing quietly when she could feel his breath on her cheeks. "Thank you."

"... You're welcome."

Using her undamaged hand to tap Kristoff's nose, Anna giggled. "Told you I could climb to the top."


	11. Melted Chocolate

Anna had watched him shiver enough times, seen him huff warm breath into his hands enough time, and noticed the chatter of his teeth _enough times_ to know that she wanted to do something to help. She ran into the back room, grabbed a spare pair of his gloves, and threw them into the electric warmer they had set up beside the counter.

Warm gloves? Check.

As she pulled on her jacket, scarf, and hat, Anna thought about what else might make him smile…

Maybe he'd like some treats, too?

Smiling to herself, she stuffed an assortment of candies into the gloves before stepping out the door and hobbling over the uneven snow to meet up with Kristoff.

He stood up tall, pressed his scarf up tighter over his nose, and nodded at the red head. "Hey there, freckles," he mumbled, voice muffled by the fabric. "It's cold out… You should go back -"

"I brought you warmed up gloves."

Blushing, Kristoff tugged the scarf down and smiled at her. "You what?"

She shivered, holding out the gloves. "I thought you might like…"

"Thanks…" Kristoff reached forward to grab them, wincing when they squished unpleasantly between his fingers. "...What?" He peeked inside before laughing hysterically. "Red, did you put chocolates in _warm _gloves?"

"... Oh yeah…" Anna's cheeks flushed, and she bit at her lip nervously. "I guess chocolate melts, huh…"

He smiled, patting at the top of her head, and gave her a wink. "Next time, try hard candy or something." Holding the gloves in his palms, happy that the warmth was oozing through his current mittens to his bare skin, Kristoff noticed her jaw clenching and brows furrowing.

Anna was beating herself up about this, wasn't she?

"Thank you. Really…" He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently touched at the braid under his fingers. "Now go back inside. It's cold."


	12. Stay the Night

"Anna, neither me nor Oaken want you driving home in this. I bet your fiance doesn't either."

Anna was staring out the window with her jacket halfway on, watching the snow piling up outside, before her shoulders slumped and she sighed. "Hans said I shouldn't have come in today… Why didn't I listen? He's always right…"

Keeping his arms crossed over his chest, Kristoff sighed. "Well… It's too dangerous for you to drive all the way back to the city. Why don't you…" He gulped, blushing as he realized what he was about to suggest. "I live here on the farm in the carriage house… Y-you… Can stay there, if you'd like."

She pulled her jacket the rest of the way up her arms and ran forward, wrapping herself around his waist and babbling out a constant string of "thank you oh my gosh thank you so much."

He pushed her off of him and nodded, quickly wrapping his scarf tighter around his mouth, and gestured for her to follow. "Come on. It's a bit of a trek, but I'm sure you can do it." Laughing as he watched her tighten her scarf and tuck it into her jacket, and pull her hat down over her ears, Kristoff opened the door. "All right, let's go."

They locked up quickly and started walking back on the property towards the lights of Oaken's home.

"It's about a ten minute walk. Think you can make it, princess?"

Smacking him on the arm, Anna took some quick little steps to keep up with his long strides and huffed. "What do you think I am, Bjorgman? Weak?"

Before he could reply, he felt her hands clinging to his bicep after she tripped with a yelp and fell forward, catching herself on his arms. Kristoff laughed and looked down at her. "Not weak. Just clumsy."

He let her hang onto him for the whole walk, sighing with relief as they reached the porch, and immediately shoved open the door to his small house.

Anna stumbled in front of him, cheering as he shoved the door shut and leaned against it, and immediately shrugged her jacket off, dropping it onto the floor. "Phew! That's… well that's a blizzard all right."

Nodding, Kristoff scooped her jacket up and hung it on a hook near the door next to his own, and turned back to face the girl whose hair and pants were soaked with snow. "S-should you call your fiance? Let him know you won't be home?"

"Oh!" She jumped up onto her toes, and picked her phone out of her pocket. "Yeah… I guess that's… yep!" Glancing around, Anna bit her lip. "Do… Do you have somewhere I can sit and call?"

"Uh… yeah. Bedroom's right over there."

Kristoff watched her as she thanked him and trotted off to the other room, shutting the door behind her, and moved towards his wood burning stove. He preferred a fire over the electric heat, and couldn't wait to get one started. As he worked, he could hear glimpses of her conversation.

"Hans… No! It's… No, I know but… I'm not driving!... A friend's… No… What? No!... I'm… Look I'm not coming home tonight, it's too bad outside!"

Rolling his eyes, he was hardly surprised that her fiance was rather stubborn and wouldn't listen to her.

"Well fine. Yeah, that's great. Bye."

He had finally gotten the fire started when Anna came barging out of his room, and watched her shivering beneath her crossed arms. "Are you okay?"

Anna stared at him for just a moment, biting her lip and groaning. "Fine… Just cold. And Hans is upset that I'm not going to be home tonight… So…"

"Do you… want to borrow some pajamas?"

Letting out a small squeal of joy, Anna walked up to him and threw her arms around his neck, her freezing clothes soaking slightly through his. "Yes, thank you!"

No wonder she was so cold. Was her jacket not waterproof or something?

He shoved her off and looked away, blushing deeply. "Um… I know after getting caught in snow…" How should he say this? "I mean… I personally like a hot shower after being in the snow, so if you want… I mean…" He groaned and dropped his face into his hands. She was going to think he was a pervert…

"That sounds _amazing_," Anna sighed, visibly relaxing in front of him.

Blushing, Kristoff nodded. "O-okay… Well… Right around there is the linen closet and bathroom - help yourself to anything…" He rubbed at the back of his neck and glanced around nervously. "I'll, uh, find you some pajamas and leave them right outside the door, okay?"

Anna practically skipped to the bathroom, humming happily, and started up the steamy shower almost immediately.

What had he gotten himself into?


	13. Sweater Weather

Anna was practically singing in the shower because it felt so nice on her cold skin. When she moved to use some of his product, she couldn't help but take a large whiff of his shampoo and soap. Everything smelled so earthy and _warm_, and just like she imagined he might smell if not masked by cold and the burning fire in the shop.

She finished fairly quickly and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her head, when she heard a knock.

"A-Anna?"

Pulling the other towel around her chest, she skipped over to the door and cracked it slightly, seeing a suddenly red faced Kristoff on the other side. His eyes were wide, almost obviously struggling to not look down at her bare shoulders, and he just held up the clothing.

"... I… didn't have the top of this set so… I just got a basic shirt… if you're cold I can get you a sweater or -"

She smiled up at him, reaching her hand through the crack in the door to take the set of pajamas from him. "They're perfect, Kristoff… Thank you."

By the time she shut the door, he had finally managed to stop his eyes from being locked wide open, and had started walking away.

Noticing that the clothes were warm in her hands, Anna realized that he had put them through a bit of a dryer cycle for her… and immediately pulled the soft flannel over her legs. The pants were huge on her, as was to be expected, so she tightened the drawstring and giggled to herself about how much the fabric bunched around her hips and how her feet were completely hidden under the long, wide legs.

The shirt he gave her was just a simple muscle tank, obviously one that he purposely bought tight and wore under other shirts. Her mind had wandered slightly, thinking about this tight, thin fabric, stretched over his broad chest, and blushed a bright vermilion as she bit her lip and tugged the shirt over her own body.

It hung dangerously loosely on her, revealing just a little too much of her breast from under her arm, but Anna found herself not caring as she pulled the towel off of her hair and shook it out, brushing through it with her fingers.

"Okay, I'm done…" she mumbled as she walked down the short hallway, moving to sit on the couch beside the warm wood stove.

"Great!" His voice came from in the bedroom, and he came out in just an undershirt and jeans, and started heading back towards the bathroom. "I'm just going to shower and then I'll make some food, okay?"

Biting her lip and turning on the couch to watch him retreat in the house, Anna nodded. "... Kay…"

She probably should have risked her life to get home.

She was _far _too attracted to Kristoff…

After he disappeared into the bathroom and she heard the shower start, Anna realized just how chilly she was. She moved towards his bedroom and peeked around. She had no idea where he would have kept his sweaters… but she was _really _cold…

Her eyes landed on one discarded sweater that was on his bed, and reached for it. It was definitely the sweater he was wearing today, and was probably dirty and sweaty.

Glancing behind her to make sure that Kristoff wasn't anywhere to be found, she lifted it to her nose to check just _how _dirty it was… and grinned when it really didn't smell too badly at all! She tugged it over her head, smiling at how warm it still was, and made her way back out to the living room.

Anna sat back on the couch, laying her head down on the armrest near the stove, and cuddled deeper into his sweater, waiting for him to finish up in the shower.

This might have been a bad idea… But Anna hardly cared at all.


	14. Home Cooked Meal

When Kristoff came out of the bathroom, he didn't see Anna anywhere around his small home. "Anna?" he asked, peeking around into the kitchen, then into his bedroom, before he noticed her hair flipped over the far arm of his couch. Smiling, he walked over, and leaned over the back of it to glance down at her.

"Ready for…"

She was sound asleep, snoring quietly, with her arms tucked into his… his sweater.

Kristoff felt his cheeks flush as he looked over her, almost completely wrapped up in his clothing, and he couldn't help himself… Reaching down slowly, he pushed her stray hair back behind her ear, freezing when she shifted and her eyes fluttered open.

Anna sniffled and turned up to look at him, and smiled. "... Hi."

"... Hey…"

"Did I fall asleep?"

Laughing, Kristoff nodded and shrugged his shoulders. "Only for a little bit. You want dinner?"

She hummed and turned back against the couch, stretching her legs out along the length of it. "What are you making?"

"Pasta."

"Yeeees." Anna scooted herself up into a sitting position, and reached up above her head, the sweater sleeves falling down to reveal her small hands. "Sounds great."

Feeling the heat intensify on his cheeks, Kristoff turned to walk towards the kitchen, and called over his shoulder. "I can get you a _clean _sweater, if you want. That one has all of today's work on it."

Standing up and following him towards the kitchen, Anna smiled and shrugged. "No, this is fine. It's warm." She sat at the table, propping her chin up on her hands, and watched him as he moved around the kitchen.

"You sure? I've been told I can get pretty… uh… pungent."

She noticed his red cheeks and started laughing. "No, it's fine. Really. I think it smells pretty good, actually." Suddenly her own complexion had turned ruddy when she realized what she said, and bit at her lip, hoping he didn't make anything of it.

They both stayed quiet for a while, the only sounds in the house were him clanging pots together as he dug for the ones he needed, and the wind blowing through the trees outside. Anna just watched patiently, observing the way he moved around the kitchen - it was almost graceful - and snuggled deeper into his sweater, taking a small whiff of the fabric.

It was about twenty minutes for the food to be ready, Anna admiring that he had pulled what looked like homemade sauce and meatballs out of the freezer to cook up. He placed a plate in front of her and smiled brightly as he sat across from her.

Anna dug in, immediately humming contentedly, before murmuring a muffled "Yuuuum!" through her full mouth. "This is delicious!" She swallowed her bite and looked up at him again, pushing the baggy sleeves back up her arms. "Did you make it all yourself?"

Blushing, he nodded, and put his fork down in the bowl. "My Ma has always told me that I wouldn't be a good husband if I couldn't cook - what was it she said exactly… something like," he rose his voice to match a more feminine tone and continued, "no woman is _ever _gonna be satisfied with a pitiful good-for-nothin' man who can't cook her a good meal every now and again."

He smiled as she burst out laughing, and popped another bite of food into his mouth.

"Your mother sounds like she knows a thing or two."

Kristoff nodded and then laughed, rubbing a hand against the back of his head. "Too bad no woman has ever been interested in me. All that cooking training is going to waste."

Hesitating, Anna reached an arm across the table, patting at his hand. "I wouldn't mind coming by to eat, if you ever wanted company…" She bit her lip and chuckled to herself as he flushed a bright red. "My fiance is definitely good-for-nothing when it comes to the kitchen."

He forced the smile to remain on his lips. Right. Her fiance.

"It's almost like he just bought pots and pans for the complete kitchen look, you know?"

Anna was laughing hysterically, and his smile grew more sincere again as he watched her glowing face from across the table.

"Well you're certainly welcome any time." Kristoff pulled his hand from hers and turned back to his food, glancing up at her every once in a while, until she finally leaned forward and whispered.

"I knew we'd be good friends, Kristoff. You doubted me. But I'm a good judge of character."


	15. Movie Night

After they had finished eating, Anna offered to tidy up, but wound up sitting on the couch watching television after much protesting from her host. She had called back in on more than one occasion to make sure he didn't need any help, to which Kristoff would always reply "just pick a movie, freckles."

She had picked Elf, one of her favorite Christmas movies, and waited patiently for her friend to join her.

"I'm just heating some milk so we can have hot chocolate, if you'd like," he mumbled, leaning up against the wall of the separator between the den and the kitchen.

Nodding enthusiastically, Anna almost leaped up from the couch. "Yes! Oh yes I'd love some!"

Kristoff smiled and turned back into the kitchen, quickly mixing up chocolate chips into the milk, and adding just a hint of peppermint extract, before pouring out two even servings into mugs. He made his way back out to Anna, before sitting on the couch next to her and handing her a mug.

She accepted it gratefully, taking a sip before humming. "Peppermint?"

"Uh… yeah… Is that okay?" He realized he should have asked, and suddenly felt his cheeks flush with nerves.

Taking another large gulp, Anna smiled brightly up at him. "It's perfect!" She put the cup down on the coffee table and jumped up (not noticing Kristoff inconspicuously sliding a coaster under her mug) before heading towards the television.

"So I picked Elf! I hope you don't mind!"

"Nope. Not at all," Kristoff said with a grin, blushing again as she sat closer to him this time, leaning up against him, with her cocoa clenched between two hands.

It felt comfortable, he thought - natural, even - as she sat beside him, giggling along with the movie and sipping at her hot chocolate. Even more so when she wrapped her arms around his, and nuzzled up against his shoulder.

He felt the most comfortable, however, as the movie ended, and all he could hear were her soft snores before he drifted off to sleep, his cheek pressed against the top of her head. 


	16. A Shocking Discovery

**tw: mentions / slight descriptions of abuse**

* * *

><p>"<em>It's a little strange that he isn't answering. We will check on him, ja?"<em>

Kristoff woke up slowly, barely registering the voice outside his home, but completely noticing the unknown weight on his chest. His eyes opened, glancing around the house to glare at the menu of _Elf_ playing on repeat, before landing on the mess of red hair under his chin. _Oh_.

They must have shifted in the night, as he was laying on his back with his head propped up on the armrest, and Anna was curled up on top of him with her head tucked against his neck. Kristoff couldn't help the wide grin that tugged at his cheeks.

"Anna…" he whispered, poking at her shoulder. "Wake up."

"Hmm?" She buried her nose in deeper against his neck and he flushed red.

"_So let me just get out my key, I'm sure he's home!"_

Kristoff laughed and poked at her cheek, pulling back when she jokingly nipped at him. "Get up, Red."

"_Just hurry up, please."_

Kristoff and Anna's heads both snapped to the door when it swung open, revealing a brightly smiling Oaken, and a scowling Hans, whose eyes widened when they fell on the situation on the couch.

"Anna?! What the _fuck_ is _this_?!"

"What…?" Realizing the situation she was in, Anna jumped up, scrambling to her feet on the ground as her fiance stormed off into the snow covered path. "Wait! Hans!" Her bare feet hit the snow and she screeched before jumping backwards into the house and pulling her boots on hastily.

"Wait! Please!"

Kristoff stood and moved to the entrance, leaning against the doorframe as he watched her run behind her fiance. Why didn't he assume something bad would happen? Why didn't he keep her far away from him?

"Nothing happened! I swear! I just -"

That was when a resounding slap echoed through the air, and the next thing Kristoff knew, Anna was sitting in the snow, sobbing, and Hans was so far away he could barely make out his figure.

"Oh… oh dear…"

"Anna!"

Kristoff pushed off the wall, ignoring the cold on his feet, and scooped her up quickly into his arms as soon as he managed to reach her. She was crying, clinging onto his shirt, and Kristoff tucked her closer against his chest, carrying her back to his house. Oaken walked by, offering to get his first aid kit, with Kristoff shaking his head no.

He had everything he needed. And he was rather sure Anna wouldn't want Oaken to see her upset.

Shutting the door behind him, Kristoff finally noticed his freezing feet, but didn't care one bit about them in relation to Anna's shaking.

"It's okay…" he whispered, sitting back on the couch and setting her in his lap, "It's going to be okay."

Kristoff couldn't believe what had just happened. Did he… Did Hans do that frequently? Is that why she stayed with him? Why she was _engaged_ to him? Why would _anyone_ hit someone as kind as sweet as _Anna_?

He ran his hand over her back as her sobs turned into sniffles, then into just deep, slow breaths.

"I have to go."

"Anna…"

Sitting back, Anna smiled at him, and Kristoff winced at the already purpling mark on her jaw. "... I'm okay. I am. I have to talk to him…"

Kristoff's mouth turned into a grimace, as he narrowed his eyes and hardened his stare. "I don't want you anywhere near him."

A lump formed in her throat, and Anna ran her hand down his cheek. She swallowed hard and shook her head. "It's… It's not the worst he's done. I'm okay." Anna stood and gathered her things quickly, smiling at Kristoff and shrugging. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Standing and holding his hands up, Kristoff stepped towards her. "You don't have to come in tomorrow if you don't -"

"I'll see you tomorrow."

Her voice was stern as she turned to walk out the door, leaving Kristoff concerned and slightly panicked.


	17. Next Morning

Anna was sitting in her car, doing her absolute best to clear her face. Her cheeks were flushed, eyes red, with dark bags under her eyes. She had gotten to Hans' pretty quickly, all things considered, and had walked in on him still seething.

A fight had blown up, turning into a violent screaming match, and… Anna had managed to break his nose before he kicked her out. He left, and Anna had called her sister, and they had spent the rest of the evening moving her stuff out as quickly as possible.

She didn't sleep last night.

Preoccupied with wiping under her eyes, she didn't notice when Kristoff came to stand by her car before knocking on the window. With a jump and a hand flying to her heart, Anna jerked to look over at him before sighing with relief.

He waved with a smile, faltering slightly when he noticed her puffy eyes.

Anna took in a deep breath before stepping out of her car, and greeting him with a quick hug around his waist.

"Hey…" His hand came to rub her back, before he pulled away quickly, glancing around. "Don't really want your fiance to see… Don't want him to have another temper tantrum."

Shrugging, she glanced up at him with nervous eyes. "Not my fiance anymore."

Kristoff couldn't admit out loud that he was relieved, so he pulled her back to his chest in hopes that she wouldn't see the small smile stretching at his cheeks. "I'm sorry… Are you okay?"

"… I'll get there."

Giving her one final pat on the back, Kristoff turned her to walk with him up to the store, wrapping a warm arm around her shoulders.

Most of his happiness came from knowing that bastard wasn't going to lay a hand on her ever again. But… He had to admit that a little bit of it came from the realization that _maybe _he had a chance with her.

Of course, it'd be up to her when that time came. If it ever did.

He pulled her just a fraction closer.


	18. Jealousy

Anna had just made her _biggest_ sale since starting to work here, and she was more ecstatic than she should be… But she _really_ wanted to share it with someone. And by someone, she meant Kristoff. Who was too busy being felt up by that _girl_.

Biting her lip and keeping her eyes on the field to the right of the store, she crossed her arms over her chest.

The girl must have been in her early twenties, much like Kristoff, and had beautiful long, brown hair that was braided all the way down to her butt. From what Anna could see, she was fit and tall and had perfectly tanned skin and _why was she touching him like that who does she think she is_?!

He smiled back at the girl and Anna could feel her blood pressure rising.

She wasn't jealous, was she?

That'd be _ridiculous_.

Noticing a customer in front of her, Anna shook off her confusion and rung them up with a smile before turning her glaring attention back towards the window where she had a perfect view of - where'd they go?

She would never admit how quickly she scrambled out from behind the counter to the other sales window, or how she practically threw herself out of the window when she saw the girl hand over a small slip of paper.

It was evident by how Kristoff and the girl jumped when the glass panels flew open that they did, in fact, notice her throw herself out the window… but that was beside the point.

"Anna?"

Blue eyes turned back up to the two shocked individuals, and she laughed. "Oh… Hey! Hi. Kristoff! I…" She stood up and pushed herself backwards, moving her hands hastily from her pockets to her hips to rest on the counter before settling back on her hips. "K-Kristoff. I… I just need your help… reaching, uh…"

He quirked his brow towards her and crossed his arms in front of his chest, an amused grin pulling at his lips. "Yeah?"

"Yes! I mean… I guess I haven't said yet." Her eyes darted around the room, focusing on anything but the almost laughing Kristoff and the grimacing stranger. "The, um, the snowglobes in the back! Oaken puts them so high, you know…"

Nodding, Kristoff's grin only grew. "Yeah, he sure does."

"So… Can you come help me?"

"Sure thing, Red." Kristoff walked over to the window and started shutting the glass panes, smiling at her as her face dropped. "Give me a minute."

"B-but -"

The closing window panes cut her off as she pouted behind the window, doing her best to ignore how Kristoff was very obviously flirting with her now and - He just _hugged_ her did he really just _do_ that? Anna felt her shoulders tense and stepped backwards from the window, turning to the counter, frustrated.

She _wasn't_ jealous.

Barely making it back to the counter when Kristoff came stalking in, Anna spun on her heel to face him as he approached her.

"What was that about?"

Gulping, she leaned back on the counter and laughed, waving her hands in front of her. "Whaaaat? Nothing! Nothing happened I don't know what you're talking about."

"Anna," he cut her off, grabbing her hands in his cold mittens and making her shiver. "You practically threw yourself out a window to get my attention." He dropped her hands and reached up to pull his scarf down from around his mouth, while leaning in just a little closer. "Were you jealous?"

She shoved on his chest as he smirked down at her, her cheeks burning under his gaze. "You're nuts! Why would I be _jealous_? I was _not_ jealous."

Kristoff couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he turned around to go back outside, shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever you say, Anna."

"I wasn't!"


	19. Two Turtle Doves

Anna was examining a small, whittled pieces of wood on a shelf of the store when Kristoff walked in, approaching her from behind. He had his head down, reading over the receipt as he pulled his gloves off. "Hey, can you file this-"

"These are so cute," Anna laughed, turning to face him with four of them in her hands. She stepped a little closer to Kristoff as he glanced up, noticing the little carved figures she was holding. A little partridge in a tree, a pair of turtle doves, and a dancing lady. "Does Oaken make these himself?"

He felt a heat rising in his cheeks when she started turning them over in her fingers, examining them more closely. It wasn't really something he was proud of, but Kristoff had found a stress relief in wood carving. Throughout the year, he worked on these little figurines to sell and make a small profit off of around Christmastime. "No… Uh…" She turned her gaze up to him and he swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. "... I make them."

A silence settled between them as Anna gasped in awe, almost dropping the little figures as she stepped closer to him. "You do?!" Holding up the turtle doves, Anna smiled brightly. "How much are they?"

"Um… the doves? F-fifteen per figure…" Kristoff rubbed at the back of his head, his blush deepening when she pouted.

"Oh…"

He pulled them from her hands and smiled. "Take one. My treat. Let me wrap it for you."

Anna practically skipped behind him as he walked over towards the counter, face beaming. "Are you serious? You really don't have to. They're just so cute but if you wait until next week I can pay you for it and -"

"Freckles," Kristoff laughed, cutting her off. "It's fine. It's my Christmas gift to you, okay?" He started wrapping the dove up as carefully as he could, tying a ribbon around it's neck. His wrapping wasn't the prettiest, but Anna seemed completely thrilled nonetheless.

"Thank you so much! You're amazing!" She ran to the back room to tuck it away in her bag, leaving Kristoff alone.

He stared down at the other dove, biting his lip before tucking it away into his pocket. The turtle doves were very specifically carved in pairs, meant to be sold to couples…

So Kristoff told himself he was taking it because he couldn't sell just one of them alone without their partner. That'd be bad form.

But there may have been another reason, too.

When Anna came back out, still smiling widely and brightly, he did his best to bite back his blush.


	20. Memories

Anna was sitting on the couch in the back room, a silver ring with a pink diamond clutched between her fingers, sniffling pathetically when she heard the door open. Wiping at her eyes and shoving the metal band back into her pocket, she glanced up at her coworker, offering the biggest smile she could manage.

"Hi there," she laughed, hiccuping behind her words. "I'm sorry. I'll be right back out."

Kristoff stepped towards her, shrugging his jacket off and dropping it onto the table. "Hey, you're good. No customers right now." He hesitated for a moment before sitting beside her on the couch. "Are you okay?"

Nodding, Anna turned her gaze to her lap. "Just peachy."

Lifting his hand momentarily, he decided against touching her, and placed it back on top of his thigh. "What happened?"

"Oh… Just…" She let out a breathy laugh, sniffing again and pulling the ring back out of her pocket. "I found this today. Guess I left it in my pocket…" Holding it out in front of her, Anna felt her shoulders slump when Kristoff let out a low "_Oh_."

"Like…" She shrugged and bit at her lip before turning to face Kristoff. "I know in the end it was a bad relationship and everything…" Anna paused, smiling sadly. "But there are some good memories there. And I keep seeing them in so many things around my apartment and…"

Kristoff swallowed his nerves and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting her continue, and blushing as she dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"We were together for two years and we were engaged and… I don't know. I'm having a hard time getting over it."

He rubbed a warm hand up and down her arm, pressing his cheek against the top of her head when she scooted herself a little closer. "You deserve better than him, you know."

Shrugging, Anna made a small noise of discontent.

"You do."

"Maybe."

A thick silence fell between them for a moment before Kristoff laughed and clapped his hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Here's an idea."

Blue eyes glanced up at him, and he smiled.

"Bring everything you have that reminds you of him tomorrow, okay?" Kristoff turned and let go of her shoulders, patting his hands on his lap. "We'll get rid of it. Except the stuff you can make some money off of."

Anna bit her lip. "Get rid of it?"

"Anything you're willing to part with, at least."

After a minute, she nodded, smiling. "Okay. Yeah. I will."

They got up together, Kristoff grabbing his jacket, before heading out to the front of the store.


	21. Burn It

After they had finished cleaning the shop and closing up, Kristoff called over to Anna, who was digging around in her car. "Make sure you get it all!"

"I know, I know!"

He heard her holler small curses and little screeches as she touched things she didn't know were there - Anna had, after all, described her car as her _own personal dumpster_. It honestly amused him, how messy she was outside of work. She was the one who made sure that everything was in it's place on the shelves and got frustrated when customers put things in the wrong spot… so seeing her car in such disarray was funny.

_It's organized chaos_, she defended. _I know __**exactly **__where everything is._

Kristoff retreated to the shed and pulled out a large steel drum that had obviously been well used, before hauling it over towards a grass free area, where two concrete blocks rested, behind the shop. "All right, bring it all over here, Freckles."

"What are we doing?" Hoisting the large box to sit on top of her car, Anna slammed the door shut before retrieving the box and practically skipping over to her friend. "What is that for? I thought we were just going to toss the stuff…"

"Oh, Red…" he sighed, laughing and taking the (surprisingly heavy) box from her arms. "You haven't been through a serious break up before, have you?"

She looked confused. "No…? Have you?"

Kristoff pressed his lips together in a pout when she laughed, shoving her shoulder with his hand. "No. I use this for other things. Bills… Whatever. Anyway…" He stepped towards the massive pile of small logs that sat by the shop, that Anna knew were for keeping the wood stove going inside, and started loading them into the drum. "The best way to get rid of this stuff is to _burn_ it."

"Wait, what?" She stepped backwards from the drum, biting her lip and glancing between it and Kristoff. "That… That doesn't sound very safe. And what if I change my mind and want this stuff back?"

"Nope. Not how it works."

"But…"

"No buts!" Kristoff ran back to the shed, pulled out some newspaper, and immediately started balling it up as he walked over, building a nest to start the fire on. "You seemed like you wanted to start new… Am I right?" He pulled a book of matches from his pocket, lighting a few and dropping them in one by one.

Anna worried her bottom lip again, taking in a deep breath and knitting her eyebrows together. "Yeah… That's right…"

They watched the flames lick the logs until they caught, slowly growing as they consumed the wood.

Kristoff smirked up at her. "Then come on. This will be satisfying."

He realized how it might seem, as he wasn't exactly being subtle about liking her… that he was trying to make her move on faster than she was prepared to… But he hoped she didn't think that. He hoped that this would really help her.

Anna moved towards the box, starting to dig through it, before pulling out a picture frame. "He took me to Disney World… he was really grumpy the whole time… Like, look at his face!"

Kristoff glanced at it, and couldn't help but laugh. There was sweet, bubbly Anna, with a pair of Minnie Mouse ears on, smiling brightly, next to Hans, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere but there, standing in front of Cinderella's Castle. "Why would you even frame this? He looks miserable."

"Because it's the _only _picture he let us take the whole time!" She clenched the frame a little tighter between her fingers, before flipping it over and undoing the clasps. "My sister gave me the frame though, so _that _I'm keeping…"

Watching as she carefully pulled the picture out and placed the frame back into the box, Kristoff noticed the sadness that was dancing in her eyes as she looked at it one more time. "You don't have to, if you don't want to…"

"No." Anna turned her eyes up to him, and smiled, nodding firmly. "You're right. I want a new beginning." She stepped closer to the drum, "that means no more dwelling on the past," and quickly dropped the picture down into the flames.

A moment of silence passed, where Kristoff was worried she was going to dive in after the picture… until she jumped up with her hands over her head, howling with laughter.

"That! Felt! Amazing!"

He stepped closer to her as she started digging through the box again, eyebrows raising when she pulled out a dirty and worn jersey.

"His dumb jersey from before I even _met _him… Played lacrosse in high school, but wasn't good enough to get a scholarship…" She clenched it tighter in his hands, scowling. "So he gave it up, said sports scholarships were for idiots who couldn't get into college any other way…"

Kristoff bit his tongue. This guy just sounded absolutely _awful_. Why would someone like Anna ever date someone like him? Much less get _engaged _to him?

She shrugged, balling the jersey up in her hands. "I found it in his attic and took it… So he won't miss it."

Into the fire it went, catching almost instantaneously, and Kristoff was suddenly worried by the expression that was crossing her features. She was starting to look _crazed_.

"All right there, Freckles?"

Anna nodded and hopped back over to the box, pulling out things three, four at a time. "Amazing! I'm amazing! This is amazing!"

Stepping back and just letting her do what she needed to do (which consisted of plenty of cursing, screaming, and _laughing_…), Kristoff couldn't help but scratch at his head nervously. He didn't want her to go crazy, but this definitely seemed to be _helping_, at the very least.

After about ten minutes, the box was completely empty, and Anna was breathing rather heavily, digging through her pockets. "Last thing…"

When she pulled the ring out of her pocket, holding it up in front of her face, Kristoff practically sprinted over to her side. "Whoa there…" He grabbed firmly onto her wrist and smiled. "You could probably get some good money for that. You sure you want to put it in there?"

"Yes," she mumbled without hesitation. "Yes I am. I don't want to ever see this ring ever again."

"It might not melt. I don't know how hot it'll get." Kristoff shrugged when she looked up at him, and frowned when she pouted.

"That's fine." Stepping forward, Anna held the ring up. "If you find it in here later, just throw it out. I want to pretend it melted."

And in it went, dropping in between the logs, causing a few new cracks of the fire to sound.

There was a sudden relaxation in her shoulders, and Anna took a few deep breaths before spinning around and jumping at Kristoff, throwing her arms around his neck.

He stumbled back before registering what was happening, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Thank you. _Thank_you," she almost sobbed into his scarf, burying her nose against him.

"You're welcome, Anna…"


	22. On Display

When Kristoff walked into the shop, cracking his neck lightly, he looked up to see Anna stretching up to try and get something off of the top shelf, her lower back peeking out from between her sweater and her jeans. He felt his cheeks flush as his eyes scanned over her pale, creamy skin, and he coughed, hoping she would stop.

But instead she just turned to face him, her back still exposed, and offered him the biggest smile he had ever seen her give anyone. "Hi!"

"Hey…" Was she… actually happy to see him? _Him _?

Gesturing with her hand, Anna waved her co-worker over. "Come here, I need your help reaching something."

Kristoff laughed as he walked over to her, mumbling a tired "I can just get it _for _you -"

"No!" she hollered, turning around to face him. "It's a surprise!" Anna bounced on her heels and bit at her lip. "So just come here and pick me up." Anna was looking eagerly at him as he approached her, the blush on his cheeks burning hotter.

As he stepped around the counter, Anna positioned herself so her back was to him, and waited not-so-patiently to be lifted higher. "So… Just pick you up?"

"As sturdy as you can!"

"You're light as a feather, Freckles." Kneeling down behind her, Kristoff quickly hoisted her up onto one shoulder, smiling under his scarf as she let out a noise of surprise. "Easy."

"Whoa-kay!" she laughed, reaching forward to grasp onto the shelf and steady herself. "Perfect!"

As Anna started moving around and adjusting whatever it was she was doing, Kristoff kept a firm arm wrapped around her legs. The last thing he wanted - or _needed _, really - was her falling off of him and getting hurt. "What are you doing up there anyway?"

She reached down to smack the top of his head and let out a stifled giggle. "Surprise! It's a surprise!"

A few more minutes passed before Anna started wiggling in his grasp, and he glanced up to see what the situation was.

"Okay! Okay let me down and step back!"

Sliding off of his shoulder, with his fingers brushing against her skin as he helped her down, Anna bounced twice when she hit the ground, and grabbed his hand to pull him in front of the counter. "Ta da!"

Kristoff saw her hands fly out in front of her to gesture to the shelves, before he turned his gaze to examine her work. Up behind the counter sat all of his hand carved figurines, elegantly and neatly displayed, in proper order of the song, with fine calligraphed banners of the lyrics hanging between the shelves.

"Do you like it?"

He was speechless.

Never before in his life had anyone cared enough about something he did to put that much effort in displaying it. "Like it?" Maybe she was just doing it to help him sell more but…

He reached over to grab her, wrapping his hands around her waist to lift her back up over his head, spinning her just once around. "I love it!" It meant so much to him that she cared enough about his work to show it off.

He could kiss her!

He... He _could_.

When he heard her giggling above his head, Kristoff snapped back to reality, quickly dropping her down to the floor before rubbing at the back of his head. "I mean… um... Thank you…"

Anna bit at her lip, smiling at him. "You're welcome."


	23. Keeping Warm

Anna was at the window, shivering slightly as she ladled out some hot chocolate for a customer, waving and smiling as they thanked her and left. She had forgotten her gloves at home, and had been at the window much more frequently than normal tonight. Her hands were freezing, and she couldn't find any relief.

She jumped when a tree fell against the wall of the store, taking a deep breath when she saw Kristoff wiping the pine needles off of his gloves against his jeans. He was wrapped in layers, with a faint sheen of sweat on his cheeks, and Anna could almost _see _the heat radiating off of him.

"Kristoff!"

He turned his eyes up to her, and gave a small wave.

"Come here!" she yelled, using her almost frozen hands to urge him inside - and Anna guessed she seemed panicked, because he all but dropped everything he was doing to come inside in a rush.

"What's wrong?" he asked, tugging his scarf off from his mouth. "Are you okay?"

Anna skipped towards him, smiling brightly, and grabbing at the bottom of his coat. "Just…" She snaked her hands up under the multiple hems of all of his layers, and placed her palms flat against his bare stomach.

"H-holy _crap_…" Shivering under her palms, Kristoff didn't even have it in him to be embarrassed. "_Shit_."

"My hands are cold and you looked warm." Anna was humming with content as she stepped closer to him, resting her head against his chest. "I was right."

As their skin started reaching more equal temperatures, Kristoff felt himself relaxing enough to finally realize that _her hands were on his bare stomach _and she was leaning up against him, and that this was probably the most intimate anyone had _ever _been with him.

It felt… amazing.

So of course he pushed her back far enough that her hands came out from under his sweater, pulled a spare pair of gloves out of his pocket and held them out in front of her. "Here. These will help."

Anna turned her eyes down to the mitts, blushing, and tried her best to not feel completely rejected. "Thanks…"

"Yep"

Turning to head back outside, Kristoff mentally slapped himself for being such an idiot.


	24. An Invitation

Kristoff couldn't stop staring at her. The last few days he had been completely stupid around her, and he had wanted to fix it. Anna had been talking to him less than normal… and he found himself _missing _her constant attention. Was it because of the gloves thing? Was she upset that he pushed her away?

Through the window, he could see her sorting the register and preparing to close for the night. He was just waiting for the last customer to leave and…

Moving almost _too _quickly, Kristoff came through the back door of the shop, right next to the counter, and watched Anna jump with surprise as her eyes landed on him, and her hand rose to clench her heart.

"Jesus, Kristoff… You almost gave me a heart attack!" Anna slammed her hand down on the counter and took a deep breath. "I thought we were being robbed. Holy…"

Straightening his back and blushing furiously under his scarf, Kristoff let out a little laugh. "Uh… It's… It's windy. Sorry! The door must've swung a little harder than I meant for it to anyway um I have a question for you?" He rubbed at the back of his head when her gaze fell on him again. "I…" A cough.

Anna felt a small shiver run up her spine. "Yeah?" If she was being totally honest, she was _painfully_ attracted to her co-worker, and found him utterly adorable when he got nervous and bashful. _Especially _because it probably meant he was going to ask her something that she'd love to say yes to.

"I, uh… I've got some food that I need to cook up before it goes bad…" Scratching at the top of his head, Kristoff accidentally pushed his hat off of his head, fumbling to catch it before it hit the ground.

_Yes, keep making a fool of yourself_.

He twisted the fabric between his fingers, and shrugged. "I can't eat it all myself…"

Anna smiled at him, her posture relaxing significantly.

"D-do you want to come up for dinner?" Brown eyes turned to the ceiling as he dropped his hands down in front of his hips. "I… I've got some steaks and was gonna roast some vegetables like… lots of carrots - I really like carrots - and… and maybe some potatoes? If you like?" He didn't notice Anna's growing smile, and lifted one hand up to the back of his head. "And my Ma sent over a sweet cake the other day but I don't… I don't like sweets too much..."

It was when her hand touched down on his arm, making him jump, that Kristoff finally noticed how close she had gotten. "If you don't… I understan-"

"I'd love to," she smiled, stepping back. "Can you start up a fire, too?"

Feeling all of his nerves disappear, Kristoff returned her smile. "Of course I can."


	25. Team Effort

Kristoff had started a quick fire, leaving Anna on the couch to tend to it while he started cooking the meal. It wasn't exactly a _quick_ thing… but at the very least he knew he was going to invite her up, so he had seasoned and prepared everything before leaving the little house this morning just in case she had said yes.

Though that had been an awkward conversation.

"_Do you always prep enough food for two people?"_

"_Oh… no… I just… I tend to make food in large batches so I have dinner for a couple nights."_

"_Seems to me like you're always prepared to invite someone up here."_

Kristoff had blushed so brightly that he stopped talking and turned back to the kitchen, effectively ignoring her and the rest of that conversation. He held onto the idea that if Anna had truly thought he was some weird player, that she wouldn't have agreed to come up and eat dinner with him. Right? That made a lot of sense… At least to him.

He felt a hand on his back, snapping him back to reality, before he realized that Anna was standing next to him at the stove. "Hey." He did his best not to blush, but it had gotten very warm in the kitchen, and he was down to just his thin undershirt… and could feel every bit of heat radiating off her palm.

"Hiya." Anna maybe (totally) let her fingers linger for a moment too long, before pressing both of her hands against the ledge of the counter, bouncing up on her toes. "Need any help?"

Glancing down at her, Kristoff felt his breath catch in his throat. He knew he thought she was incredibly pretty - but he quickly realized he hadn't taken too much time to _really _look at the details of her face. She had long lashes that seemed to flutter with every move of her eyes, a healthy coating of freckles that were particularly abundant on her cheeks and nose, and soft, pink lips. And abnormally bright blue eyes.

Which were looking at him.

"N-no… Almost done!" he laughed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Just gotta…" Moving the steaks from the pan to a plate, Kristoff shrugged. "Gotta let them rest for a minute as the vegetables finish up in the oven." He watched her nod and moved over towards the fridge. "You want anything to drink? Mostly just have water and beer… And like one bottle of wine I can open if -"

"I'm not twenty-one."

"... Oh." It hit him that he had no idea how old she was. Was she even eighteen? Well… the guy she was engaged to looked to be in his mid twenties so… she had to be at least twenty, right? Kristoff found himself slowly turning to face her. "You're… at least eighteen, right? Because if not, this just took a turn for the illegal."

Anna bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah, I'm at least eighteen."

"... Are you exactly eighteen."

"... I'm a little older than eighteen."

"By a _little _older_, _do you mean less than a year?"

"... Five months."

"... Oh."

"Yeah…" Anna twisted her fingers together in front of her chest. "… At least eighteen."

Kristoff sighed with relief. He was twenty-two, and would have honestly preferred her being just a _little _closer… but… eighteen. At least she was eighteen. "Okay. That's great."

Wanting to break the tension, Anna moved towards the table to grab the plates while Kristoff removed the pan of vegetables from the oven. "Can I plate it?" She may have been a terrible cook, but she absolutely _loved_ the artistic nature of deciding how to place food to make it look the most appealing.

"I mean… I was just going to throw it on the plate… but…" Vaguely gesturing with his hands, Kristoff gave her a smile. "Go for it."

Placing her hands on his shoulders and shoving him to the table, Anna smiled. "Sit! I'll bring it over. Team effort! It's not like this is a date or anything, right?"

"Of course not." He had to fight to hide his disappointment.

So did she.


	26. The Itis

The meal had been a little awkward at first, the tension from before bleeding over into this moment, but it had fairly quickly eased into a more relaxed silence as they both enjoyed their food. The clang of silverware on ceramic plates was rhythmic and nice, and definitely calmed them both down.

"This is _so _good," Anna praised in between bites, almost forgetting to cover her mouth as she spoke.

Kristoff laughed and rubbed at the back of his head. "I almost didn't want to eat it, you set it so nicely."

Her cheeks flushed and she turned her gaze down, embarrassed. "I wish I could actually cook... I don't think there's a job _just_ for plating. But that's the only part of the whole chef thing I'm good at!" Stuffing another bite of the steak into her mouth, Anna sighed happily. It was the best kind of medium rare, melt-in-your-mouth steak that Anna _loved_.

In fact, it might be the best steak she had _ever _had.

Kristoff coughed and drew her gaze back up. "I could help you learn, if you want… it's not too hard. I've been cooking for as long as I can remember…"

Smiling and nodding, Anna practically leapt out of her chair as she scooted forward to grab his hand. "I'd _love_ that! I'd really..." She sat back, letting her fingers drag over the back of his hand as he left her reach. "_Really _love that."

They both were incredibly fond of the idea of spending more time together.

After finishing their meals, chatting just a _little _more about cooking, and cleaning up together, Kristoff told Anna she could go relax while he wiped down the table and counter tops.

"Are you sure?" she practically yawned, leaning up against the counter.

He nodded and nudged her towards the living room, winking. "Go ahead. I'm sure."

Anna yawned again and smiled, mumbling a small "okay," before heading towards the couch, and immediately laying face down along the entire length of it. The meal was so warm and satiating, and the fire was so soothing beside her, that she couldn't help herself… and fell asleep before Kristoff could even finish wiping down the table.

When he came out a few minutes later, he couldn't help but laugh.

Moving to sit next to the couch, Kristoff sighed. It was only about ten, but he always just assumed she usually had some sort of classes to attend before coming to work, considering she rarely got to the shop before four in the afternoon. Tomorrow was a Saturday, so he surmised that she probably could just sleep here and not have any worries… But he figured it might be better to check.

"Hey, Anna…" he muttered, poking at her shoulder. "Anna?"

Her eyes fluttered open, and he smiled.

"Do you have to go home?"

She shook her head.

"Do you want to sleep here?"

Anna offered him a pathetic nod, turning her face back into the cushions.

Kristoff took in a deep breath and rubbed at the back of his head. "Do you want to sleep in my bed, or are you comfortable enough here?"

In her sleep dazed state, Anna knew she had absolutely no desire to move. She patted the couch, and smiled. "Here's good," she mumbled, before promptly falling back asleep.

It was stupidly adorable, how she curled up on his couch, with her toes tucked in between the cushions. Even in sleep she had a smile tugging at her lips, and Kristoff found himself just watching her, even once reaching up to tuck a stray bit of hair back behind her ear.

Until he felt creepy.

Immediately standing, Kristoff ran to his bedroom closet to pull out a spare comforter for her, and draped it over her sleeping form, grinning when she grasped at the blanket and tucked it under her chin, snuggling deeper under it.

"Goodnight, Anna."


	27. Warmth

Anna woke up to an eerily silent house. She vaguely remembered telling Kristoff that she was completely fine with sleeping on the couch… but now it was the middle of the night and the fire had gone out and she was _cold_ and the wind was _loud_. All of it together made for one creepy way to wake up.

Stretching her arms over her head as she sat up on the couch, Anna stood slowly and stepped as quietly as she could manage towards where she remembered his bedroom was. She didn't know if he would let her sleep with him, but at least maybe he'd come start up the fire again, at the very least.

She tip toed her way around the room, winding up next to the bed, to find Kristoff asleep on his back, one arm draped over his eyes, the other resting against his bare chest. As much as she would have been okay with just continuing to look at him, one particularly loud gust of wind made her jump and yelp, effectively waking him up.

"… Anna?" he yawned, pressing his hands into the mattress and moving to sit up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Biting at her lip she shrugged. "I got cold… Can you fix the fire?"

He groaned and fell back onto the bed, before sliding over and lifting up the blankets. "Nah, just come here…"

Tensing and blushing furiously, Anna nodded, and stepped forward to slip under the covers.

"That better?"

She couldn't believe how incredibly warm he was, and immediately found herself inching closer and closer and _closer _to his warmth, until she was completely cuddled up against him, sighing with content as his arm pulled her even tighter against him.

"_Much _better…"

It was never like this with Hans… He would sleep with his back to her, letting her hug him from behind if he were feeling generous - sometimes he'd hold her hand. But he was always too _warm_ for snuggling, he'd say. He couldn't sleep because she was like a furnace if she was too close.

Curling her fingers against his chest, Anna buried her nose down into his skin, feeling more comfortable and more at home than she ever had before.


	28. Harmless Mistake

Anna was used to the loud morning noises of downtown, so when she woke up to almost complete silence, it took her a moment to remember where she was. And in that moment, she made a mistake.

She squeezed his chest tighter, before stretching her neck up to place one soft kiss on the corner of his mouth, mumbling a sleepy "g'morning…" against his lips. Until she realized.

When she sat up quickly, she startled Kristoff awake, and felt his hands immediately touching at her back, seeking her out.

"Are you okay? What's going on? Are you -"

Nodding, Anna scurried out of the bed and immediately pulled her jeans over her hips. "I'm… yes, I'm fine. Um… I have to go, okay?" Turning to the bedroom door, she began to move quickly, only stopping outside the front door to pull on her shoes and jacket.

Kristoff sat up, throwing the blanket off of his lap and chased after her, grabbing at her one arm that wasn't concealed by her thick coat. "Anna? Seriously, what's going on? Why are you in such a hurry?"

She froze when his hands touched her arm, begging that he had been too deeply asleep to notice that she had even come close to kissing him. It was habit… when she woke up with Hans, she always kissed him good morning. It just… _happened_. "I… My sister is probably worried I really have to get home I'm _so _sorry I just…"

"Okay… Okay, let me… let me get dressed really quickly…" Kristoff let go of her and turned back to his bedroom. "I'll drive you down to your -"

The door slammed, and Kristoff turned around to find no trace of Anna.


End file.
